Matt Blaze"Pennsylvania Avenue Subway" Tunnel, Former Reading Railroad City Branch, Philadelphia, 2004.
Captured with a Fuji GX680 camera, 80mm lens, T-Max 100 film. Some tilt was applied to control focus. It was very dark in there, and focusing required the use of a flashlight.
The Pennsylvania Avenue Subway was built to provide a sub-grade freight connection between the Reading Railroad's main line and its "City Branch". It served the Baldwin Locomotive Works' Callowhill plant and, later, the Philadelphia Inquirer's printing plant, among other Center City industries. Abandoned in the 1980's.
The GX680 was a fun but very unusual camera that couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be. It was a truly gigantic beast of a medium format SLR camera providing (limited) view camera movements. It used 120-format roll film with a 6x8cm frame (so a 3:4 aspect ratio), with a built-in autowinder. It's sort of what you'd get if you somehow merged a Nikon F4, a Hasselblad, and a Crown Graphic. Definitely not a point & shoot camera.
Sir Farts Alot@mattblaze I’ve never had the opportunity to handle the Fuji, but it is probably as massive as a Mamyia RB or RZ-67 with a 45° prism viewfinder, 120mm lens and a 220 film back. They created a phenomenal negative but they were a tank when it came to portability. Great for studio camera but not so fun on location
When it came to mounting negs on aperature cards for printing, the 6x7 negs allowed for so many cropping ratios and print sizes, even an A crop (35mm)card.
When it came to mounting negs on aperature cards for printing, the 6x7 negs allowed for so many cropping ratios and print sizes, even an A crop (35mm)card.
Kelley Graham@horqua @mattblaze heavy. I’ve hiked up to about 9500 feet off trail. Backpack weighs about 50 pounds minimum, not including tripod. Worth it.
Mamiya RB67 medium format camer…
Mamiya RB67 medium format camer…
@imklg @mattblaze What a chunk of steel & glass!